How did this happen?

Where did all the time go? When did my little helpless baby become a rambunctious, stubborn, loveable little boy? When when when? I'm looking at pictures of him from the past couple of months, and he totally looks like a little boy and not a baby. Of course he's not a baby, I KNOW that, but does he really have to grow up so fast? I hope that writing about the times that he's little will help me remember them (not to mention the thousands of pictures I am sure to have by the time he has grown out of toddlerhood and entered kidhood). I want to remember this time because everything is a first for all of us.



Just a few days ago was Tyler's 19-month birthday. I don't even know if I can write down all the things he does now...that he didn't do or say last month! For starters, he likes to climb up on the couch in the living room, stand up on it, and walk off of it! Granted, Tyler's not more than a foot and a half off the ground, but he can't even be 3 feet tall, so that's quite a step! That would be like me stepping off something over 2 1/2 feet tall, and I would definitely have to jump off that. ANYWAY, so yeah, he's climbing things and thinks he's indestructible. He's saying more words, too ("bubbles", "circle", "hello" when he hears a phone ring, "yellow", "mine" - not my favorite word that he's learned, more animal noises, people's names), he can recognize people in pictures, and he likes singing the alphabet with us!


So, the thing that I am most excited and verklempt about is that Tyler said (albeit with some prompting) "Love you" for the first time last week!! It sounded like "of yo", but he said it. We say it to him all the time, but I don't know if he has connected that it means we unconditionally, with all our hearts, would-jump-off-a-cliff-to-save-his-life-LOVE him, but maybe? I'm sure that's what he meant when he said "of yo".

Guilt

Lately, I've been feeling a gnawing anxiety. I'm anxious and worried about the time I'm away from Tyler. I miss him and stare at his pictures all day at work, and wonder what he's doing or what he's learning at day care...and our schedules are so jam-packed right now, I feel like we're just bouncing around from one thing to another every day. I have almost an hour commute to work, which includes dropping Tyler off at day care, near my office. Then, 9 hours at work, and another hour commute back home. So, our days usually go like this:

6:00 - Wake up, go for a jog

6:30 - 7:15 - Shower, pack lunches, get Tyler up and dressed

7:15 - 8:15 - Drive to daycare, drop off Tyler, drive to work

8:30 - 5:00 - Work

5:10 - 6:00 - Pick up Tyler from daycare, drive home

6:00 - 6:45 - make dinner

6:45 - 7:30 - dinner (this mostly takes a while because of Tyler)

7:30 - 8:00 - give Tyler a bath, read bedtime stories

8:00 - Tyler's bedtime

8:00 - 8:30 - clean up, shower, etc.

8:30 - 11:00 - study

11:30 - bedtime

Some evenings, Mike has class, or we both have volleyball...so either he or both of us are getting home late. Sometimes we'll take Tyler with us, and other times we drop him off with our sister-in-law for the evening. As you can see, there's also not much together time for me and Mike. Most of our time home in the evening is spent feeding Tyler and getting him ready for bed. An 8:00pm bedtime may seem a little late to some people, but that's really the earliest we can get Tyler in bed. He has a little playtime with Daddy while I'm fixing dinner, but after dinner he takes a bath, then it's off to bed.

Anyway, my anxiety with this whole situation is that Tyler won't know that I'M his Mommy. Yesterday I spent all of 3 hours with him (which included 2 hours worth of a commute to and from daycare/work), since I had a volleyball game and dropped him off with my sister-in-law for most of the evening. While that time in the car is becoming more of quality time now that Tyler can talk more, it's still not the same as playing with him and teaching him things. Ty spends over 9 hours a day at day care, what if he thinks that's really his home and all I do is bring him there and take him away periodically? Will this little man ever know how much I love him and miss him right now?

All gone!

I think the last time I got a haircut was sometime during the middle of my pregnancy with Tyler. Since then, I haven't even gotten a trim! Moved by my cousin, Angela, who had gorgeous long hair and cut it off to donate to Locks of Love, I decided to grow my hair out to donate, as well.


Locks of Love requires at least 10 inches of hair for each donation, so I started measuring my hair several months ago. This week, I measured it and had well over 12 inches to cut off and still have enough hair for a decent style. Soooo....tonight, I did it!!

As a reminder, here is a picture of me with long hair:

This picture is about a couple of months old, so my hair was actually a little longer when I got it cut.

And now for the "after" picture....drumroll, please:

















I discovered that I didn't have many pictures of me with my hair down, anyway (which is why that first picture is almost 2 months old!). My morning routine consisted of a shower and a quick towel dry of my hair, then I put it up in a clip for the rest of the day. I might wear my hair down once or twice a week. Anyway, I really LOVE my new haircut, and so does Mike (which is pretty important to me, since he's the one who has to look at me the most!). I proudly sent my hair to Locks of Love just this afternoon!

Egads!

You are kidding me that another month has gone by already! I can't believe it's August already and summer's half over.

Okay, what have we done this past month? Well, the first weekend in July, we went to visit my sister-in-law (Mike's sister) and celebrated two of our nieces' birthdays. It was a jam-packed, fun-filled weekend! Laurel invited us ALL to crash her pad and check out the new digs, so we did! Including her husband, Kyle's family, there were 35 of us ransacking their house. That was 15 kids and 20 adults! It was a crazy and hectic weekend, but also really fun and what I believed to be a glimpse of the future. Tyler got to play with so many of his cousins. I loved watching as Tyler and all of his cousins ran around the yard, played in the water, played inside together, ate together, slept together...it made realize that we would need a bigger house! No, just kidding...well, while we would need a bigger house if we ever wanted to hold a shindig like that, the weekend made me realize how important family really is. Tyler is fortunate to have so many cousins living within 2 hours from him, so I hope he'll always know what it's like to be near family. I watched him gleefully run around the house, chased by one of his older cousins, and I just adored the looks on both of their faces. Tyler couldn't have been happier and Cameron was grinning knowing that he was the reason Ty was so excitedly laughing. Us adults also had some fun! We got to see the new Transformers movie (LOVED IT, by the way) and the guys played on the Slip-n-Slide. Yes, they are grown men, and yes, they modified it so there was a longer "slide" to slip on, and no, the rest of the kids didn't get to play on it once all the "uncles" got a hold of the Slip-n-Slide. Here's a picture of Mike, showing the two vinyl tablecloths that they attached at the beginning of the Slip-n-Slide:














Here is Mike, halfway down the real Slip-n-Slide, with both tablecloths stuck underneath him.














I'm just poking fun by making it seem like the tablecloths didn't work. The guys eventually figured out a way to anchor down the table clothes and sprinkle a hose on them, and the extended Slip-n-Slide was a big hit :)

Anyway, we all had fun hanging out and relaxing. It was a good weekend. We have a TON of pictures from that weekend, which I eventually hope to organize, but check them out for now in my unorganized version here.

What else is new? Oh yeah, Tyler has been learning more words! He's just spouting them out like a water fountain. My baby is so smart! Here are the new words he now says:
hello (allo)
Lolo (lowlow)
Lola (nalah)
no!
three (twee)

all done (ahh doe)
where'd it go? (wheh go?)
want yummy! (wa nummy!)
daddy
mommy


Tyler knows what lots of animals say:
lion/tiger: roar! (rrraaah!)
bird: cheep cheep (tee tee)
owl: hoo hoo
cat: meow (raow)
horse: neigh (aay)
train: choo choo (tee tee)

Well, I'm sure there's more, but it's late and I can barely stay awake. Maybe I'll think of more tomorrow! Good night!